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SWAMI ABHEDANANDA 




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Book.^A_Sj.^4_ 
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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



VEDANTA PHILOSOPHY 



THREE LECTURES 



BY 



SWAMI ABHEDANANDA 



ON 



SPIRITUAL UNFOLDMENT 



DELIVERED UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE 

VEDANTA SOCIETY, IN CARNEGIE LYCEUM, 

NEW YORK, 1 900-1 90 1 



PUBLISHED BY THE VEDANTA SOCIETY 
NEW YORK 



V, 






TwF LIBRARY OF 

OG-'GRESS, 
Two Ocm^.es Receiveo 

NOV. 26 1901 

OOPvtJJfkHT ENTRY 

CLASS a XXo. No. 

cx>PY a 



Copyright, 1901, 

BY 

ROBERT DRUMMOND. 



KOBBXT DRUMMOND, PRINTBR, NEW YORK. 



CONTENTS 



I. Self-control 

II. Concentration and Meditation 
III. God-consciousness 



" Self is the lord of Self, who else could be the lord ?" 

" One's own Self conquered is better than all other people; not even a god 
could change into defeat the victory of a man who has vanquished himself apd 
always lives under restraint." — Dhammap,ada,. 



SELF-CONTROL. 

Every religion can be divided into two parts, one of 
which may be called the non-essential and the other 
the essential Doctrines, dogmas, rituals, ceremonies, 
and mythc^logy of all the organized religious creeds 
come ur. V*- the head of the non-essential. It is not 
meant by thii- i' :it they are useless; on the contrary, 
the very fact oi uieir existence proves that they are 
helpful and necessary at certain stages of progress. 
What I mean is, that it cannot be said that they are 
absolutely necessary for making one live a purely 
spiritual life. A man or a woman may be highly 
spiritual without performing any of the rituals and 
ceremonies ordained, either by the scriptures of the 
world, or by any religious hierarchy. A man or a 
woman may be truly religious without believing in 
any creed, doctrine, dogma, or mythology. Those 
who think that these non-essentials are indispensable 
for attaining to the ultimate goal of religion, have not 
yet grasped the fundamental principles that underHe 



2 VEDANTA PHILOSOPHY. 

all religions; they mistake the non-essential for the 
essential; they cannot discriminate the one from the 
other; they lack the insight of spiritual illumination. 
Those who understand the essentials of religion and 
strictly follow them in their every-day life do not dis- 
turb themselves about the non-essentials; these simple 
and sincere souls alone reach the goal of religion by 
the shortest way possible. 

The essentials of religion are principally two: Self- 
knowledge and Self-control. Self-knowledge means 
knowledge of the higher Self, the divine nature of 
man; and self-control is the restraint of the lower self 
or selfish nature. True knowledge of the divine Self 
comes when the lower self is subdued. In ancient 
times, Greek philosophers understood these two as the 
essentials of religion, therefore over the temple en- 
trance at Delphi the phrase " Know Thyself " was so 
conspicuously engraven. Heraclitus, the earliest Greek 
philosopher, interpreted this motto by saying: " It 
behooves all men to know themselves and to exercise 
self-control." 

In India, the ancient Seers of Truth understood the 
essential part of religion so well that they tried their 
best to keep it separate from the non-essential part of 
the popular religion of the masses. The result of such 
attempts was the discovery of the system of Yoga. 
The system of Yoga deals entirely with the essentials 
of religion; it does not teach any dogma, creed, ritual, 
ceremony, or mythology. Its main object is to teach 
mankind the different methods of attaining the knowl- 
edge of the true Self, and the practice of self-control. 



SELF-CONTROL. 3 

A true Yogi Is one who has perfect control over him- 
self, and who has acquired self-knowledge. The sci- 
ence of Yoga explains what self-control is, how it can 
be acquired, as well as explains the nature of self- 
knowledge. A Yogi therefore reaches the ultimate 
goal of religion and spiritual perfection without wast- 
ing his energy in the practice of non-essentials. 

The non-essentials of religion are like a huge heap 
of husks, under which lies hidden the kernel of the es- 
sential truth; wherever there is too much of non- 
essentials, there prevail religious corruption, super- 
stition, and false theology, the main object of which 
is to convince the ignorant masses that the heap of 
non-essential dogmas, doctrines, ceremonies, and rit- 
uals must be observed by all who wish to be religious. 
But the science of Yoga, being free from dogmas, 
ceremonies, and rituals, suffers neither from corrup- 
tion nor from superstition, nor does it need any the- 
ology. It is pure and simple. It welcomes to its fold 
all sincere and earnest souls who are searching for 
higher truth and spiritual life, and seeks to make them 
spiritual by giving the essentials of rehgion as their 
highest ideal. It teaches them the method by which 
self-control and knowledge of the Supreme Self can be 
acquired. 

Self-control means the control of the lower self, or 
the animal nature of man, by developing the higher 
powers that are latent in the individual soul. Having 
ascended the grades of evolution from the lower ani- 
mals,^ man lives at first on the animal plane, and, as 
ke rises higher and higher, the latent powers of the 



4 VEDANTA PHILOSOPHY. 

soul gradually begin to manifest and overcome his ani- 
mal tendencies. 

Self-control is not manifested in the character of 
any man who ignorantly obeys the dictates of the 
senses, and blindly serves the internal masters of pas- 
sion, anger, greed, self-delusion, pride, and egotism. 
Those who can control themselves, or check the mad 
rush of the mind toward the objects of senses, and 
who cease to obey those animal impulses which are 
standing like fierce enemies in the path of spiritual 
progress, enjoy undisturbed peace as long as they live, 
thus reaching the highest goal of freedom; but those 
who are constantly guided by sudden waves of pas- 
sion, anger, pride, jealousy, and hatred, are always dis- 
turbed in their minds; they are restless and unhappy. 
How can persons who are slaves of their senses ex- 
pect happiness? Happiness comes in the state of per- 
fect freedom, and not in slavery; that freedom again 
can be acquired only through the practice of self-con- 
trol; therefore those who desire to enjoy unbounded 
happiness and peace of mind on this earth should 
struggle for freedom by learning to practice self-con- 
trol. 

The attainment of self-control is easy for those who 
have learned to study their own minds, and who, after 
discovering their weaknesses, try to reform their own 
characters. Like the lower animals, the natural ten- 
dency of human beings is to seek pleasure, and to 
avoid pain. As long as man lives in the darkness of 
ignorance, and cannot trace the causes which make 
him happy or unhappy; as long as he does not under- 



SELF-CONTROL. 5 

stand whether happiness and pleasure come from ex- 
ternal objects or from within, so long he fails to be 
master of himself. Right discrimination of the condi- 
tions which make one happy or unhappy is the surest 
guide in the path which leads to the attainment of 
self-control. 

Now let us examine the present conditions of our 
minds. They are naturally attracted by the objects 
which are pleasing to the senses, or which help in ful- 
filling the purposes and desires that are extremely 
strong in us. The majority of mankind are attached 
to those objects which give pleasure, both sensuous 
and mental. They are never attached to anything or 
anybody where they do not find pleasure. In the 
same manner it can be shown that the natural ten- 
dency of the mind is also to get away from pain. The 
eyes are pleased to look at the beautiful color which 
attracts them, ears are pleased to hear sweet words, 
melodious notes, and good music. We like to smell 
sweet fragrance, and to taste the things pleasing to 
the palate. Yet that which is pleasing to the senses 
of one man may give pain to another. A Chinaman 
enjoys Chinese music, but it is painful to our ears. 
Similarly, the music which is delightful to our ears 
gives no pleasure to a Chinaman. Western music 
seems like howling, yelling, and screaming to many 
Oriental ears which are not trained to it. Many peo- 
ple enjoy curious flavors and high seasoning, and 
others are disgusted by them. Some people enjoy the 
burning sensation in the tongue and throat produced 
by red pepper, while others feel pain from it and shun 



6 VEDANTA PHILOSOPHY. 

it. The same color, same sound or taste which is 
pleasing to one, may be a source of intense discomfort 
to another. This shows that pleasure and pain are not 
the inherent properties of the objects of senses, but 
that they depend upon the conditions of the mind and 
body which come in direct contact with those objects. 

Mind has tremendous power over the body; if a 
certain idea gets possession of the mind it affects the^ 
body and produces corresponding changes in the 
whole system. The same mind which found pleasure 
in a certain thing at one time, dislikes the very sight 
of that thing if new ideas happen to get a hold upon 
it. For example, animal flesh gives pleasure to a meat 
eater, as long as he thinks it is the right kind of food, 
but when the nobler principles of vegetarian diet dawn 
upon his mind, and convert him into a vegetarian, 
the very odor of meat will be offensive, and may even 
make him feel ill; his stomach will refuse to digest 
animal flesh, and it may even become a cause of pain 
and suffering to him. Therefore, it can be said that 
there is nothing in the universe from which all indi- 
viduals can derive absolute pleasure or absolute pain, 
or that can even please the same individual at all 
times. Those who seek pleasure from the objects of 
senses cannot stick to one particular enjoyment all the 
time. If they try to enjoy the same thing day after 
day, they will soon tire of it; satiety is the inevitable 
result, and with that comes loss of interest. 

Suppose a lady, who is passionately fond of the 
opera, should constantly hear the same opera day and 
night, without hearing or doing anything else, she 



SELF-CONTROL. 7 

would surely tire of it in a few days. Constant change 
of the objects of pleasure is absolutely necessary for 
those people who seek pleasure from the external 
world. It is for this reason that many people, who are 
too poor to afiford themselves much variety in their 
pleasures, delude themselves by thinking that wealth 
would give them all they desire, and envy those who 
possess large fortunes, foolishly believing that the rich 
must be always happy. In this way they often fail to 
enjoy the pleasures within their reach, thus making 
their life a burden. They fail to understand that 
wealth has its own trials, that are often only a little 
more bearable than the ills of poverty. The truth is, 
that true happiness can only belong to him who can 
control his mind. The practice of self-control would 
be a great blessing to all these unhappy people; it 
would make their lives happier and better worth living. 
Before we can control the natural tendency of the 
mind to seek pleasure in external objects, we must 
know that the feeling of pleasure depends upon the 
feeling of pain. If we do not have any feeling of pain 
whatever, we cannot enjoy a pleasant feeling. Pleas- 
ure is pleasure only when it stands in relation to the 
feeling of pain. Whenever we compare one sensa- 
tion or feeling with another, we find one more pleas- 
ing than the other; the less pleasing one is ordinarily 
called painful. The tendency of our mind is to seek 
objects that are more pleasing than those which we 
already possess, or happen to enjoy, and the moment 
we find a thing which we think would produce a more 
agreeable sensation than the things we now have, we 



o VEDANTA PHILOSOPHY. 

crave to possess it. Having satisfied the craving, 
if after comparison we discover that the latter is not 
better than the former, we remain as unsatisfied as be- 
fore, and may even wish to go back to the former con- 
dition. Thus we can understand that although pleas- 
ure and pain may arise in different individuals from 
their contact with the same objects of senses, the nat- 
ural tendency of mind is to seek pleasure and avoid 
pain. We are attached to those objects from relation 
with which we derive pleasure, but the moment these 
cease to yield us gratification, we become indifferent 
to the very things we so eagerly desired; sometimes 
we grow to hate them and wish to get away from them. 
Our minds are constantly seeking new objects of 
pleasure through the gates of the senses, and attach 
themselves to every fresh object that promises to give 
us a pleasant feeling or sensation. While this attach- 
ment lasts, the mind becomes a slave to it. If any- 
thing happens to come in the way and prevent the 
mind from enjoying a particular pleasure, the mind 
tries to overcome the obstacle. The stronger the op- 
posing power, the greater is the mental struggle to 
subdue it. If the desire be very strong and we cannot 
succeed m gratifying it by ordinary means, we often 
get enraged and adopt more violent measures, thus 
losmg all possibility of a peaceful state of mind. 

That simple desire for enjoyment takes the form of 
a ruhng passion, agitates the whole mind, and mani- 
fests in the form of anger and unrest. In that agitated 
state of the mind we lose the sense of right and wrong 
memory gets dull, understanding gets confused, we 



SELF-CONTROL. 9 

lose foresight and act like brutes. Passion is the 
stronger form of desire; the same strong desire, when 
acting under opposition, takes the form of anger. De- 
sire is the first stage, passion is the second stage, and 
the third stage is anger. 

Passion and anger again, lead to hatred, jealousy, 
and many other wicked feelings which are expressed 
outwardly in the form of vicious acts. He who can 
control his mind from being disturbed by passion and 
anger has obtained self-control. The control of pas- 
sions and anger comes when the mind does not seek 
pleasure from external objects, but learns by experi- 
ence that pleasure which can be derived through the 
senses is very transient; it lasts for a few seconds only, 
and its true source is not in the object itself, but de- 
pends mostly upon the mental and physical conditions 
of the enjoyer. 

We have seen that passion and anger are the sec- 
ond and third stages of desire; these desires, accord- 
ing to the Yogis, remain in the subconscious plane of 
our minds. Here a question arises: What is the 
cause of these desires? A Yogi, trying to trace the 
cause of desires, says that they are the outcome of 
the dormant im.pressions in our minds, or the awak- 
ened state of these impressions. He further says that 
when we enjoy any external object through our senses, 
our minds are impressed with certain changes which 
are produced while we are in direct contact with the 
thing. When we eat an apple, the impression of its 
taste is left in the mind. When we hear a musical note, 
an impression of the note, pleasant or unpleasant, re- 



lO VEDANTA PHILOSOPHY. 

mains in the mind. Similarly all the impressions 
which the external objects leave in the mind will re- 
main there in a seed form, or dormant state, by the law 
of persistence of force. None of them will be lost; 
whatever things we have enjoyed or suffered in our 
lives are stored up in that seed form, or in the form of 
dormant impressions. These dormant impressions are 
the causes of our desires. 

Some of the Western psychologists have supported 
this theory of the Yogis. Professor Beneke says in 
his '' Elementary Psychology " : *' What has once been 
produced in the soul continues still to exist, even when 
it has ceased to be excited. That which was conscious 
merely becomes unconscious, or lives in the internal 
substance of the soul." Sir William Hamilton admits 
the existence of the latent impressions when he says: 
" The whole we are conscious of, is constructed out of 
what we are not conscious of." He explains the 
psychic activity of the subconscious plane by compar- 
ing the chain of impressions or thoughts with a row 
of billiard balls, of which, if struck at one end, only the 
last one moves, the vibration being only transmitted 
through the rest. But a Yogi says that these dormant 
impressions are the seeds or real cause of desires. . 

Let us suppose that the mind substance is like a 
sea, that the surface is the conscious plane, and that 
the dormant impressions lie deep below the surface. 
Here we should remember that anything that remains 
in a dormant state is bound to manifest when the con- 
ditions become favorable. Forced by their inward na- 
ture, when the dormant impressions begin to mani- 



SELF-CONTROL. 1 1 

fest, tHey may be said to slowly rise up from the bot- 
tom of the sea of mind in the form of minute bubbles. 
We may call this bubble the subtle state of desire, or 
the awakened impression. Then it gradually rises to 
the surface and appears larger and larger in size. Let 
us call this bubble state of the awakened impression, 
desire; then the bubble of desire, after playing on the 
surface of the mental sea for some time, bursts there 
and takes the form of a wave, and agitates the whole 
sea of mind, transforming it into one mass of impulse. 
The mind becomes restless, peace is disturbed, power 
of discrimination becomes dull, we do not know 
whether good or bad results will follow should we 
yield to the impelling impulse; we are forcibly driven 
headlong toward the object of desire, whatever it be, 
mental (like ambition, pride, etc.), or merely sensuous. 
In fact, our controlling power having been overcome 
by that wave of desire, we can no longer call it desire. 
It temporarily takes the form of a ruhng passion, or 
strong impulse. That tremendous impulse controls 
our nerves, muscles, and the whole body; we strug- 
gle to gratify this longing, only to find, when we have 
attained the thing and gratified the longing, that the 
satisfaction is but brief. The tempest that v^recked our 
self-control gradually subsides, and the particular de- 
sire that provoked it returns again to its dormant 
state; then a temporary peace of mind is regained 
and we remain happy for a time. 

In the meanwhile another dormant impression gets 
ready to appear in the form of a bubble. Slowly it 
rises up from the subconscious to the conscious plane, 



12 VEDANTA PHILOSOPHY. 

and the same process is repeated. This ever-recur- 
ring series of desires and their temporary gratification 
forms the daily life of all such persons as have not 
learned to control their minds. When this fleeting 
peace of mind, or so-called happiness, has been se- 
cured, the desire subsides into a dormant state for a 
longer or shorter period. This process is continuously 
going on in each mind at every moment. Suppose a 
person is invited to a dinner party, where he partakes 
of something very delicious which he never tasted be- 
fore, and which he likes immensely. Do you think that 
the impression of that taste will be lost as soon as the 
dinner is over? Certainly not; it will remain in the 
mind and engender a desire for the same thing again ; 
the memory will recall that impression and it will be- 
come the cause of a fresh desire. In this manner it 
can be shown that every new impression is the cause 
or seed of a new desire. 

When a man begins to drink intoxicating liquors 
he feels a peculiar sensation; it drives away his dull- 
ness, exhilarates him, excites his nervous system, and 
makes him happy for the time being. After the effect 
of the stimulant is over, the impression of the agree- 
able feeling it produced is left in his mind; for some 
time it remains latent, then it rises up in the form 
of a desire, or bubble, to the surface of his men- 
tal sea. Rising to the surface it bursts and produces 
a wave, or impulse, which intensifies the desire and 
leads him to drink again. The fresh exhilaration cre- 
ates another impression, which stamps itself upon the 
former, and the process goes on with increasing fre- 
quency. With every fresh yielding to desire, the old 



SELF-CONTROL. 13 

impression Is deepened, until the series of stored-up 
impressions becomes so strong that it forms a part of 
his nature and becomes what we call habit. Similar 
processes have produced all varieties of habits, good 
and bad, which we find in different people, in different 
countries. A kindred process produces what we call 
instinct in the lower animals. 

The stored-up impressions of one life are not lost 
by the death of the body, but will remain latent for 
some time and will become the causes of future de- 
sires in another life. Each one of us is born with the 
stored-up impressions of his past birth, which will re- 
appear in the forms of various tendencies, desires, and 
habits. This is the explanation of the wide variations 
we see in members of the same family, for which 
heredity alone, or even heredity plus environment, 
fails to account. As the number of impressions in- 
creases, desires also increase, as has been said; if we 
allow the desires to rise up and play in our minds, they 
will take the forms of passion and anger, disturb men- 
tal peace, create new impressions, and be in turn the 
causes of fresh desires. Thus, there is no hope of con- 
trolling the mind by mere gratification of desires. 
There is no hope of satiating the craving for enjoy- 
ment by getting the objects of pleasures; this is simply 
putting fuel on fire, or oil on flames. The more we 
enjoy, the more will the desires increase. Foolish peo- 
ple who have never analyzed their minds indulge 
their desires and seek pleasure from outside objects. 
No one has succeeded in attaining self-control by be- 
ing a slave to desires, nor has any one become free 



'4 VEDANTA PHILOSOPHY. 

from desires by gratifying them. Therefore, a Yogi 
says: "As fire is not quenched bv butter, so the fire 
of desire will never be put out by the objects of pleas- 
ure The more butter is poured on a fire, the more it 
will flare up; similarly, the more the objects of de- 
sire are indulged, the more the desires will increase 
If a person were to possess all the objects upon this 
earth, still his greed would not stop, he would seek 
something more." Do you suppose that a man who 
works hard to become a millionaire will ever be satis- 
fied with his possessions and cease to acquire more' 
He will go on seeking to add to them as long as he 
will live. A. poor man desires to be rich, a rich man 
desires to be a millionaire, and a millionaire wants to 
be a multi-millionaire, and so on; where is there anv 
rest? Where is there happiness? When will his thirst 
for possessions or enjoyment cease? Will he ever ac- 
quire control over his mind? Perhaps not in this life 
Thirst for enjoyment is the real disease in us- its va- 
rious symptoms are passions, ambition, pride, hatred 
jealousy, anger, etc. Tremendous mental strength 
and will-power are required to control the restless 
mind from taking the forms of waves of passion and 
anger. The perfect restlessness of the mind of an or- 
dinary person, who is the slave to his desires and pas- 
sions, has been beautifully described bv a Yogi- the 
poet could not find a better illustration than to com- 
pare It with a monkey, who is restless bv nature- the 
Sage thought it was not quite enough, 'so he added 
drunken monkey, who was stung by a scorpion.' 
When any one is stung by a scorpion, he jumps about 



SELF-CONTROL. 1$ 

from place to place for nearly two days, so you can 
imagine the restlessness of that poor monkey; still 
the poet found something lacking in the simile, so he 
completed it by saying: " At last the monkey was pos- 
sessed by a demon." Is there any expression by which 
we can describe the wretched state of that poor 
monkey? Such is the ordinary state of our mind. 
Naturally it is restless, but it becomes more so when 
it drinks the wine of ambition, still more when it is 
stung by the scorpion of jealousy; but the climax is 
reached when the demon of pride enters the mind and 
takes possession of it. In such a case, how difficult it 
is to bring the mind under control! To conquer mind 
is more difficult than to conquer the whole world. He 
is the greatest hero and the real conqueror of the 
world who has conquered his own mind. " He that 
ruleth his spirit is greater than he who taketh a 
city." A Yogi says : '' If one man conquers in battle 
a thousand times a thousand men, and if another con- 
quer himself, he is the greatest of conquerors." There- 
fore we should pay special attention to the study of 
the mind; we should learn to analyze its nature and 
constantly watch over its various modifications, try- 
ing to develop and strengthen the will-power. 

A Yogi develops his will-power by daily practice; 
he rouses up the higher powers and continues to fight 
against his greatest enemies with firmness and deter- 
mination until he accomplishes his end. Perfect self- 
control of a Yogi is that state of mind where no de- 
sires or passions of any kind disturb the peace and 
tranquillity of his soul. Such a state can be acquired 



l6 VEDANTA PHILOSOPHY. 

more easily by removing the bubbles of desires before 
they take the wave form of passions, that is, by attack- 
ing them while they are in their weak state. This can 
be done either by right discrimination of the nature of 
desire or by comparing the transitory pleasure which 
results from our contact with the objects of senses, 
with the serene, peaceful mind which is undisturbed 
by desires or passions. We should also remember 
that the highest ideal of our life is not pleasure of the 
senses, nor slavery to desires and passions, but the at- 
tainment of mastery over the lower self, and the mani- 
festation of the Supreme Self. 

There is another way of obtaining self-control, 
through concentration and meditation. Concentrate 
your mind upon the Supreme Self and do not let it be 
disturbed by any other thought or desire at that time. 
Those who have read the *' Light of Asia " will re- 
member that when Buddha sat in meditation under 
the Bo tree all the dormant impressions began to rise 
in his mind. They are described as the attendants of 
Mara, the personified evil thought. But Buddha said: 
" It is better to die on the battlefield while fighting 
with the enemy than to be defeated and forced to live 
like a slave, seek^mg little bits of sense pleasures and 
enjoyments." With such a strong determination 
Buddha became master of himself; whosoever will dis- 
play similar determination of purpose and strength of 
character, will surely attain perfect self-control. They 
alone who have acquired self-control enjoy eternal 
peace and happiness in this life, and attain the goal ol 
all religions, the knowledge of the Divine Self. 



CONCENTRATION AND MEDITATION. 

The spiritual life of a man or a woman depends 
upon the subjugation of the senses, upon control of 
the passions, and upon the manifestation of the divine 
powers that are latent in every individual soul. Such 
a spiritual life can be attained by different methods. 
Each of these methods is called in Sanskrit " Yoga." 
The method or path of concentration and meditation 
is known as the " royal method," or Raja-Yoga in 
Sanskrit. It is the royal road which leads to the 
realization of Truth. The word Raja- Yoga is a com- 
pound word; Raja means king, and Yoga method of 
concentration. The method of concentration is de- 
scribed as the king of all other methods, because noth- 
ing can be achieved without concentration. There is 
no power in the universe higher than the power which 
comes through concentration. The power acquired 
by its practice can control all the physical forces of 
nature. A Raja- Yogi says that wherever he concen- 
trates his thoughts, there, for himself and to his own 
consciousness he will control phenomena. Raja-Yoga 
teaches that mind is the sovereign power in the uni- 
verse. Faith-healers, mental-healers, Christian Sci- 
entists of to-day have appreciated only one hundredth 

17 



iS VEDANTA PHILOSOPHY. 

part of the mental powers which a Yogi in India claims 
to possess. 

When the mental powers are properly guided and 
directed toward any external object the true nature 
of that object is revealed, and the result is the discov- 
ery of the physical laws which govern the phenomenal 
world. The powers of the mind are scattered like the 
rays of an electric light that illumines the surround- 
ing objects. An electric light which enlightens the 
objects within a very limited circle can be made to 
illumine distant objects, if we know the art of gath- 
ering its rays into one beam and can throw that one 
flood of converged rays on anything at a considerable 
distance, as is done by a search-light lantern. We 
may compare the concentrated mind of a Yogi to a 
mental search-light. There is as much difference be- 
tween the scattered mind of an ordinary individual 
and the concentrated mind of a Yogi as there is be- 
tween the light of an ordinary lamp and that of an 
extremely powerful search-light. A Yogi can throw 
the search-light of his mind upon the minutest objects 
at any distance in the realm of the invisible and un- 
known, and can learn most easily every particular con- 
nected with those objects. When the same concen- 
trated mind of a Yogi is directed towards the internal 
world, it enlightens the most subtle things connected 
with his inner nature and unveils those higher laws 
which govern his spiritual nature. 

Each individual possesses the power of concentra- 
tion in a greater or less degree, and uses it in his or 
her every-day life, either consciously or unconsciously. 



CONCENTRATION AND MEDITATION. 19 

Concentration in its simplest form is known to us by 
the name of attention. If we do not pay attention to 
the object which we see, hear, or perceive we cannot 
understand the nature of that thing. When we read 
a book if our attention be diverted to some other 
thing then our eyes may read the letters automatically 
without grasping the meaning or sense of the subject. 
When any one speaks to you, if you are inattentive, 
the words uttered will enter your ears; the vibrations 
of air carried by auditory nerves to the brain-centres 
will produce molecular changes in the cells of those 
centres; all the. physiological conditions necessary for 
the perception of a sound will be fulfilled, but still for 
want of attention you will not hear it. When you are 
attending a lecture, if your attention be fixed on some- 
thing which is more interesting, you will not be able 
to understand what is being talked about — in fact, you 
will not even hear a single word that is said. Simi- 
larly, in every instance of perception of sense objects 
you will notice that if there be no attention behind it, 
you do not really perceive at all. 

The power of attention is not altogether an acquired 
faculty but is largely a gift of nature. Many are born 
.with this power, largely developed, but wherever there 
is the manifestation of mind, we find more or less of 
the expression of this power of attention. It is a spon- 
taneous outgrowth of the nature of our mind. 

The power of concentrated attention manifests itself 
in the lower animals as wxU as in man. It varies only 
in the degree of intensity but not in kind. All ani- 
mals first direct their attention to the search for food. 



20 



VEDANTA PHILOSOPHY, 



A vulture fixes his attention on the object of his prey, 
looks at it from a great distance, then falls upon it' 
and catches it. When a cat catches a mouse or a 
tiger falls upon his prey, he fixes his attention first, 
controls his senses from distraction, collects the scat- 
tered forces of his mind and body, and ultimately suc- 
ceeds m fulfilhng his desires. His attention is so con- 
centrated at that time that he hardly takes any notice 
of anything other than the object in view. Hunters 
know this fact so well that they take advantage of it 
when they go out hunting wild animals. A great 
Yogi in India once noticed a crane standing motion- 
less on the side of a brook with his attention so deeply 
concentrated upon a fish as not to notice the hunter 
who was going to shoot him. The Yogi was so aston- 
ished that he exclaimed: "O crane! Thou art my 
teacher in concentration. I shall follow thy example 
when I practice concentration." In all beasts of prey 
the necessity for this concentrated attention is well 
Illustrated by the way in which they get their food. 
If their attention be distracted by a sudden noise or 
other interruption their quarry is likely to escape them 
There are many instances of the power of spontaneous 
attention possessed by lower animals. In such cases 
mental powers are centred into a focus and directed 
towards one object. Every sense is alert and under 
complete control, the whole physical activity is con- 
verged towards one point, and for the time being mo- 
tion of the body is arrested. Experience has taught 
the animal the necessity of this course of action 
When the diverging rays of the mental energy 



CONCENTRATION AND MEDITATION. 21 

which moves the whole system in different directions 
are centred into a focus and when the concentrated 
energy is forced through one channel, it strengthens 
the mind. That mental strength sometimes expresses 
itself as physical or muscular strength. In our every- 
day life we find the expression of the same power of 
spontaneous attention. Only the workman who is 
able to fix his mind upon his work can give it intelli- 
gent attention, can rise above being a mere autom- 
aton. A motorman can not drive an electric car if 
his whole attention be not fixed upon his work. That 
this is a well-understood fact is evidenced by the rule 
that to prevent distraction motormen in street-cars are 
not allowed to talk with passengers. The rider of 
either horse or wheel who allows his surroundings to 
absorb too much of his attention is liable to get a sud- 
den tumble. The successful chess-player, playing per- 
haps half a dozen games at once, has to exercise a 
marvellous force of concentrated attention. In danc- 
ing, singing, painting, writing, or in any other avoca- 
tion no man can do his best unless his mental powers 
are properly concentrated upon the object of his par- 
ticular line of work. 

Without using the power of attention there could 
not be any great artist, sculptor, or philosopher; no 
mathematician, scientist, or chemist; no astronomer, 
musician, or composer. The more this power is de- 
veloped the more marvellous are its results. All the 
discoveries in the realms of nature, inventions of ma- 
chines and of other things which we see to-day, all 
the amazing achievements of modern science, are 



i2 VEDANTA PHILOSOPHY. 

nothing but the results of that wonderful power of 
concentrated attention displayed by the inventor and 
the scientist. If a born genius should suddenly be 
deprived of this power he would act like ordinary 
men, for what we call genius is in reality immense 
power of concentration, so that all the faculties devote 
themselves to one object, which produces work so re- 
markable that we at once regard the man who mani- 
fests this wonderful ability as above the dead level of 
ordinary humanity, while on the other hand if an idiot 
can develop and manifest this one power of concen- 
trated attention then he would be reckoned as one of 
the geniuses of the world. Such is the power of con- 
centration. It is the source of all our knowledge. In 
short, it is the condition of our life. Without exer- 
cising a certain amount of this power we could only 
live while w^atched over by others, we could not avoid 
the constant difificulties and dangers with which our 
life is beset on all sides. Ninety-nine per cent, of the 
diseases and accidents in our lives are the results of 
inattention to the laws which govern life and health. 

A child in the earliest period of its life expresses 
this innate power of attention by fixing its gaze upon 
shining objects or upon the face or eyes of its mother 
or nurse. That simple undeveloped and spontaneous 
power of attention in a child gradually develops as 
the little one grows older and comes in contact with 
the world. 

The spontaneous attention which expresses itself in 
lower animals, in children and uncultured persons, is 
directed at first towards the objects that are most nee- 



CONCENTRATION AND MEDITATION. 2^ 

essary for the sustenance of life, such as food, clothes, 
etc. As we rise above the animal plane through cul- 
ture and education the power of attention manifests 
in a different way. Then we gradually learn to direct 
our attention towards objects which are not merely 
attractive to the senses or necessary for bodily sus- 
tenance, and can fix our minds on such things as are 
attractive to our intellect and higher nature. Here be- 
gins voluntary attention, or attention well controlled 
and properly directed by intellect and will. This leads 
to the intellectual culture of an individual and to the 
attainment of mental strength and to the creation of 
new thought-currents. 

The same attention, when directed towards the ob- 
servance of moral laws and right actions which bring 
good results not only to ourselves but also to our fel- 
low members in the social order, leads to the moral 
culture of our minds. Again, when our voluntary at- 
tention is directed towards our spiritual nature, it 
makes us virtuous and religious and develops our spir- 
itual character. Ultimately, when it is directed in the 
form of concentrated meditation towards the Univer- 
sal Spirit, or God, it brings the highest wisdom. It 
leads to the freedom of the soul from the bonadges of 
ignorance, delusion, and selfishness, and results in the 
attainment of Bliss absolute, which knows no limit. 
This highest state is called the state of God-conscious- 
ness. Therefore, everything that has brought hu- 
man beings to the present stage of civilization, culture, 
and advancement; every act that produces physical 
good, and moral, intellectual, and spiritual concepts 



24 VEDANTA PHILOSOPHY. 



is but the expression of that well-directed power of 
concentrated attention. Emerson says: "The one 
prudence in life is concentration; the one evil is dis- 
sipation. Concentration is the secret of strength in 
politics, in war, in trade — in short, in all management 
of human affairs." 

The spontaneous attention, which is a gift of nature, 
can be transformed, by voluntary effort, into the 
power of higher concentration upon the most abstract 
truths, and lastly upon the Absolute Reality of the 
universe. That simple power can become enormously 
strong if we know the secret of controlling it. As a 
gardener, by severe pruning, forces the sap of the tree 
into one or two vigorous buds, instead of suffering it 
to spindle into a sheaf of twigs, so a Yogi, by control- 
ling the dissipated mental powers and concentrating 
the whole energy on one point, stopping for the time 
being the miscellaneous activity of the mind, develops 
a power which brings wonderful results in every line 
of his work. The control of attention by will-power is 
called concentration, in Sanskrit Dharana. Perfect 
concentration brings supreme control over external 
and internal phenomena. This kind of higher concen- 
tration is described by Patanjali in third chapter of 
his " Aphorism on Raja-Yoga " ; Dharana, or con- 
centration, is when the mind, being restrained from 
taking various forms, holds on to some object, either 
in the body or outside the body, and keeps itself in 
that state. If, by gradual practice, we can control 
the modifications of the mind-stuff, such as sensa- 
tions, passions, desires, etc., and converge the whole 



CONCENTRATION AND MEDITATION. 25 

mental energy towards one point then that process 
is called Dharana, or concentration. The result of 
such concentration will vary according to the nature 
of the object towards which the concentrated mental 
energy is directed. The principal aids to concentra- 
tion in the way of obtaining the best results from it 
are, first, right discrimination of the object of con- 
centration; secondly, a clear and definite understand- 
ing of what one wishes to acquire; thirdly, self-confi- 
dence; and lastly, firm determination, settled purpose, 
and perseverance. Disraeli said: ''I have brought 
myself, by long meditation, to the conviction that a 
human being, with a settled purpose, must accomplish 
it, and that nothing can resist a will which will stake 
even existence upon its fulfilment." According to a 
Yogi, a firm, resolute, and determined mind with a 
settled purpose will accomplish the best results of con- 
centration in the shortest time possible. 

Man's greatest achievement is to understand the 
mysteries of his own being — to know himself. A true 
Yogi, therefore, does not care to concentrate his mind 
upon a search for pleasure as worldly persons do. He 
does not even spend his mental energy in trying to 
avoid things which may appear unpleasant for a short 
time. He does not divert his mental powers by fixing 
his attention upon the diseases of other persons, nor 
does he concentrate them to gain selfish ends by in- 
juring others, as trusts and monopolies of the civil- 
ized world do; nor does he practice black magic. A 
true Yogi never concentrates his mind upon the phan- 
toms of wealth and vain earthly ambitions. Accord- 



26 



VEDANTA PHILOSOPHY. 



ing to a Yogi, this kind of misdirected concentration 
brings waste of that energy which must be stored up 
to a considerable extent before the highest result of 
concentration in spiritual life can be obtained. All 
these worldly objects are but obstacles in the path ot 
spiritual progress. Few people in this world can un- 
derstand why these things obstruct the path of spirit- 
ual development. But a true Yogi is one who can 
discriminate truth from untruth, real from unreal, 
spirit from matter. A true Yogi does not wish to 
waste his energy m gaining mere transitory things. 
He wants to attain the highest ideal of hfe; so he 
centres his thoughts upon the Supreme Truth or the 
Ab^^olute reaUty of the universe, and the result of this 
concentration is the Samadhi, or the highest super- 
conscious, tranquil state of mind where alone is possi- 
ble the divine communion, or reahzation of unity with 
God on the spiritual plane. 

The Hindu psychologists have classified mental ac- 
tivity into five different states: (i) Kshipta; (2) Mudha; 
(3) Vikshipta; (4) Ekagra; (5) Niniddha. The first 
means " scattered," that is, always active, the kind of 
mind which is constantly at work and never restful. 
In this state the whole mind rushes like a mad ele- 
phant in whatever direction it chooses. It wanders 
here and there without any aim or purpose, and can- 
not be brought under control. Those who are in such 
a .tate of mind do not even try to stop this purposeless 
activity, because they believe it to be their normal 
state and that all other states are abnormal, morbid, 
or diseased. They are afraid of sinking into indiffer- 



CONCENTRATION AND MEDITATION. 27 

ence or losing their individuality if any one tells them 
to reduce the tremendous speed with which the ma- 
chine of their mind is running and advises them to 
take a little rest. They think rest means either sleep 
or death. 

The second class is Miidlia, meaning "' stupid and 
confused." Those people who are dull, lazy, inactive, 
and idiotic belong to this class. In this state intellect, 
understanding, and reason are enveloped, as it were, 
with darkness of ignorance. These two are the two 
extreme states of activity and inactivity of mind. The 
third state is called Vikshipta, that is, sometimes active 
and sometimes dull. The fourth state, Ekdgra, means 
" one-pointed," or, in other words, concentrated. The 
fifth mental condition, known as Niruddha, is that 
state of well-controlled concentration in which all in- 
voluntary activity is subdued and the mind, transcend- 
ing its ordinary limitations, reaches the superconscious 
state of Samddhi, the state of God-consciousness. 
The first three states are to be found in ordinary 
persons, and none of them is of any help in spiritual 
life. The last two alone are conducive to spiritual 
growth. 

In the fourth state, that is, when the whole mind is 
concentrated or " one-pointed," we can realize the true 
nature of things; all painful modifications of mind be- 
come less and less; all knots of desires for worldly 
things and sense-pleasures are slackened, and they 
cease to disturb the peace of mind. This state of mind 
leads gradually to the attainment of the fifth state, 
when comes perfect control over the mind. Those, 



28 VEDANTA PHILOSOPHY. 

therefore, who aspire to spiritual perfection, should 
make every effort to reach these last two states. 

When the fifth, or superconscious, state of concen- 
tration is attained the true nature of the knower or 
Spirit (Atnian in Sanskrit) is manifested. But at other 
times the knower appears as identified with the modi- 
fications of the mind substance. Sometimes the 
knower is identified with impulses, good or bad, 
sometimes with emotions, painful or pleasurable sen- 
sations, or with the changes of gross body and its 
diseases. This identification of the spirit (or Atman) 
with the changes of mind and body is the cause of our 
bondage, misery, and suffering. When the knower of 
misery and sorrow becomes identified with them, he 
appears as miserable and sorrowful; but in reality the 
knower is always distinct and separate from the object 
known. 

For instance, when an iron ball is heated in a fur- 
nace, it appears red and hot. An ignorant person 
looking at it will easily mistake it for fire. The intel- 
lect, mind, and body may be compared to the iron ball 
and intelligence to fire. Intellect, mind, and body be- 
ing heated or illumined by the fire of intelligence, 
which is the true nature of Spirit or Atman, appear to 
the ignorant as intelligent. By mistake the changes 
of mind and body are identified with the pure and 
changeless source of intelligence. As we can know 
the true nature of the iron ball by separating it from 
the fire, so we can learn the true nature of the " iron 
ball " of mind-stufT, when in the state of Samadhi we 
separate it from the fire of intelligence. We then 



CONCENTRATION AND MEDITATION. 29 

realize that it, like the iron ball, is but dark and dead 
in itself, and that only when illumined by the pure in- 
telligence, or Atman, does it glow into apparent life. 

We can illustrate this in another way. When any 
bright-colored object is placed near a piece of pure, 
transparent crystal, the whole crystal is so suffused 
•with the color thrown upon it that only a close ob- 
server can detect that in itself the pure crystal has no 
color. Similarly, the true nature of the Atman, or 
Spirit, is covered over by the reflected light of the 
constantly changing modifications of the mind-stuff — 
such as thoughts, feelings, passions, desires, etc. — un- 
til the pure "crystal " of Atman appears to have these 
modifications in itself. Only the ability to rightly dis- 
criminate the real from the apparent can enable us to 
discover the truth in either case. 

If for a moment any one can make his true Self free 
from the changeful reflections of the mental activities, 
that instant he will realize the Atman or Spirit, and he 
will cease to commit further mistakes. No longer he 
will identify himself with the various changes in his 
mind and body. Concentration and meditation are 
the only processes by which this realization can be ac- 
complished. 

There are various methods for developing the power 
of concentration. Those methods should be learned 
from skilful spiritual teachers who have practised 
them for a long time and whose lives are pure, chaste, 
and free from blemishes. One can easily learn some 
of the methods from Raja Yoga or any other book 
on the practice of Yoga, but without the help of a 



30 VEDANTA PHILOSOPHY. 

competent teacher no one should begin to practise 
them. The power of concentration can be acquired 
by mental processes alone, or by physico-mental proc- 
esses. The mental process begins with holding the 
mind to certain points, sensations, or feelings. Sup- 
pose you try to concentrate your attention on your lit- 
tle finger. At that time you will have to feel your 
little finger only, you will have to gather up, as it 
were, all the mental powers that are scattered all over 
the body and converge them towards your little finger. 
If any other thought or idea arises in mind, you must 
not let your attention be distracted by it, nor let it 
wander in any other direction. After practising for a 
few days you will notice that you have acquired some 
power of controlling your attention and of directing 
it towards one object. When you have fully attained 
this control over your power of voluntary attention, 
you will be able to concentrate your whole mind on 
any obect, whether external or internal, concrete or 
abstract, material or spiritual. 

At the time of perfect concentration you will notice 
that the rythm of respiration will change, and that it 
will gradually become slower and slower, perhaps it 
will almost cease for the time being. A clever and 
experienced French thinker, Dr. Lewes, said: "To 
acquire the power of attention is to learn to make our 
mental adjustments alternate w^ith the rythmic move- 
ments of respiration." 

The motion of the lungs has a very intimate rela- 
tion to the activity of the mind. If we control the 
activity of mind we can also control the motion of the 



CONCENTRATION AND MEDITATION. 3I 

lungs; and conversely, if the motion of the lungs is 
controlled the mind also comes more easily under con- 
trol. Again, when the motion of the lungs is under 
perfect control, every organ, nay, every particle in the 
body is brought under the control of the Spirit, or 
Atman. 

Thus, when the supreme control over attention is 
acquired by voluntary efifort, one can fix his attention 
on any part of the body and experience strange sen- 
sations and wonderful phenomena. It is a well-known 
fact that one can easily feel pain on any part of the 
body by strongly fixing his attention there. By an 
analogous process one can get rid of pain in the body. 
Mental healers of the present day are familiar with 
such phenomena, although many of them fail to un- 
derstand the rationale of their cures. One can cure 
diseases by fixing attention on the diseased part and 
sending an opposite current of thought. This method 
has now-a-days become a very common practice with 
the Christian Scientists and mental healers under a 
variety of names. But one thing should be remem- 
bered, and that is that each individual is born with 
this kind of healing power. No one can give you that 
power. It is one of the natural powers of the human 
mind. It is better to heal one's self than to be healed 
by some other mind. Do not let your mind be con- 
trolled by any other mind. People who go to mental 
healers or Christian vScientists for help and who allow 
themselves to be influenced by the minds of others, 
do not realize that by allowing themselves to fall un- 
der the hypnotic power of a stronger mind they are 



32 VEDANTA PHILOSOPHY. 

walking in a path which leads to mental degeneration. 
Many cases have been known where minds have been 
degenerated into slaves of other minds, losing all 
power of self-control. How pitiable is the mental con- 
dition of those self-deluded ones who go about seek- 
ing help from other minds! Because a Yogi thor- 
oughly comprehends this danger, he never allows him- 
self to be influenced by another mind. By constant 
practice he unfolds those higher powers which are 
latent in his own soul. A true Yogi is master of him- 
self. He knows no other master. His mind, senses, 
and body obey his commands. A true Yogi under- 
stands all the finer forces and the laws which govern 
them. This right understanding and right knowledge 
of the true nature of soul, Atman or Spirit, are the re- 
sults of the power acquired by perfect concentration. 

Concentration leads to meditation. Meditation 
means the continuous or unbroken flow of one cur- 
rent of thought towards a fixed ideal. After gaining 
control over the mind through the practice of con- 
centration, if we can compel the thought-current to 
flow in one direction for a certain length of time we 
have attained to the power of meditation. In this state 
the mind is not distracted by external noise nor by 
any disagreeable modification of the Chitta. The ob- 
jects of meditation will vary with the individual ideals 
of the persons who practise it. For spiritual unfold- 
ment the ideal of the unity of the Atman, or individ- 
ual spirit, with the Brahman, or universal Spirit, will 
be one of the best subjects upon which to meditate. 



CONCENTRATION AND MEDITATION. 33 

Such ideas as " I am Spirit beyond body and senses 
and above mind;" or ** I am one with the universal 
Spirit;" or ''I and my Father are one," will be of 
great help to those who wish to quickly reach the 
highest goal of all religions. First repeat it orally, 
then mentally. Concentrate your mind on the true 
meaning and meditate upon it. Let the same current 
of thought flow without any break or distraction, then 
only will it be real meditation. If your mind be dis- 
tracted by any other thought or idea or by external 
disturbance, firmly bring your attention back again 
to the chosen ideal. If any evil thought arise in the 
mind, overcome it by arousing good thought. If envy 
or jealousy arise, the feeling of friendliness should be 
used to counteract it. The feeling of love should be 
cultivated to conquer hatred; and forgiveness should 
be practised to overcome the feeling of revenge. In 
this way you will conquer all evil and injurious 
thoughts by their opposites. After regularly prac- 
tising meditation for half an hour each day, you will 
notice, after a month, that your whole nature has been 
changed, and that your mind has become peaceful. 
Those who have never tried meditation will find it very 
difficult at first, because the long-standing habit of 
permitting irregular activity in the mind will baffle all 
the attempts of the beginner. Various thoughts and 
ideas, which you have never cherished consciously, 
will spontaneously arise from the subconscious plane 
and will show what tremendous strength they have. 
The beginner has to slowly and cautiously subdue 



34 VEDANTA PHILOSOPHY. 

these obstructive thoughts. He must not pay any at- 
tention to them. He must labor hard to prevent his 
mind from being distracted from the train of thought 
he has decided to follow. Various disturbing elements 
will arise, will play for a short while on the conscious 
plane, and if not noticed will then disappear. But if, 
on the contrary, he should pay a little attention to 
them, they will become stronger, take the form of im- 
pulse, and force his whole mind in some other direc- 
tion. Therefore, instead of following those unbidden 
thoughts and ideas, he should hold to the ideal. 

No sage, whether a Buddha or a Christ, no saint, 
whether of the past or of the present, has ever found 
peace without practising meditation. It is the road 
which leads to the attainment of perfect tranquillity of 
mind. We are spending the whole of our valuable 
lives in making money, in eating, drinking, and doing 
such things as bring a little comfort of the body or a 
little pleasure to the mind. But we do not think for 
a moment what a valuable opportunity we are losing. 
We seek food for the body, but we never seek the 
food for the soul. Feed your souls with the eternal 
Truth that manifests itself to the purified soul, with 
that nectar and bliss which can be obtained only 
through the practice of meditation. Make meditation 
a part of the daily routine of your life. Seek the com- 
pany of some disinterested lover of mankind, follow 
his instructions as closely as possible. Keeping this 
ideal before your mind, march onward through the 
path of meditation fighting the enemies of wavering 
attention and unruly mind like a brave soldier, like 



CONCENTRATION AND MEDITATION. 35 

a true hero, and stop not until the goal is reached; 
ultimately you will be the conqueror of the universe, 
and the kingdom of God will be yours. By gaining 
the power of meditation you will enjoy supreme happi- 
ness by entering into the state of Samddhi, the state of 
God-consciousness. 



GOD-CONSCIOUSNESS. 

Well has it been said by Ralph Waldo Emerson, 
the greatest poet-philosopher America has produced, 
that "A man is the fagade of a temple wherein all 
wisdom and all good abide. What we commonly call 
man, the eating, drinking, planting, counting man, 
does not, as we know him, represent himself, but mis- 
represents himself. Him we do not respect, but the 
soul whose organ he is, would he let it appear 
through his actions, would make our knees bend." 
The eating, drinking, planting, counting man is lim- 
ited and imperfect, and is what we call the " appar- 
ent " man, but the real man is free and all-wise, di- 
vine, and always happy. The soul in each individual 
is a centre of that circle whose circumference is no- 
where but whose centre is everywhere. That circle is 
called universal Spirit. It is the source of infinite wis- 
dom, of all knowledge, all truth, all science, all phil- 
osophy, art, beauty, and love. Tliis unlimited circle 
of infinite wisdom is the real background of each ap- 
parent individual. Not knowing that the eternal river 
of wisdom is constantly flowing within him, the ap- 
parent man seeks here and there, and struggles for 
a drop of knowledge to satisfy his intellectual thirst, 

36 



GOD-CONSCIOUSNESS. 37 

like the fool, who, standing on the banks of a mighty 
river, digs a well for water to quench his thirst. We 
do not know how wise and good we are in reality. It 
takes a long time to discover that all wisdom and all 
goodness dwell in each individual soul. We are now 
seeking wisdom from outside, because we are think- 
ing by mistake that it will come from outside. The 
great sages, prophets, and wise men of the past were 
those who knew the secret of unlocking that door 
which prevents the outrush of that inexhaustible river 
of wisdom which is constantly flowing behind each 
individual ego. When the all-wise Self begins to 
manifest its higher powers, the apparent man is called 
an inspired seer of Truth. Then he realizes his divine 
nature, ceases to live like an animal, and attains to the 
state of God-consciousness, which is the highest goal 
of spiritual unfoldment. Then he is truly religious, 
and reaches the goal of all religions. All religions are 
like so many attempts of the human mind to rise above 
the animal plane, to go beyond the senses and to 
know the reality — in short, to reach the state of God- 
consciousness. 

In India, from the Vedic period down to the pres- 
ent time, this attainment of spiritual perfection or 
God-consciousness has been regarded as the highest 
aspiration, and the loftiest aim of humanity. True re- 
ligion begins when the soul of man realizes this God- 
consciousness, and not until then. The man who 
reaches this state does not seek anything from out- 
side of himself. He finds all wisdom within his own 
soul. Amongst the Hindus, from the most ancient 



38 VEDANTA PHILOSOPHY. 

times, the attainment of God-consciousness has been 
the theme of rich and poor, of kings and beggars, of 
saints and sinners. It was for this attainment that 
many kings and princes renounced their thrones and 
sacrificed their wealth, name, fame, comforts, luxur- 
ies — in short, everything that was dearest to them. 
All the noble qualities which adorn the character of 
sages and make a man godly in this life are but the 
outcome of the attempts for the attainment of God- 
consciousness. Is there anything more ennobling, 
more sublime, more divine, than the matchless purity 
of heart, serene simplicity like that of a child, lofty 
self-abnegation, and disinterested love for all which 
are displayed in the character of one who is conscious 
of his divine nature? No. Such characters are the 
beacon lights that are ever shedding their guiding 
rays on our toilsome path and beckoning us onward 
to the haven of realization. They are the great leaders 
of humanity, they rule over milhons. They are mani- 
festations of God on earth. They are worshipped by 
the vast majority of mankind as the incarnations of 
God. They expressed in their lives the ultimate goal 
of all religions. The ordinary or apparent man is self- 
deluded and blind to Truth, is imperfect and limited in 
every way, and has no spiritual character, being ruled 
only by self-interest. All of us know that we are now 
living more or less selfish lives and acting under lim- 
itations, that we are not exactly what we wish to be. 
During the calm moments of our lives, we sometimes 
look at ourselves and feel that our souls, like eagles, 
are free by nature and able to soar into infinite space, 



GOt)-CONSCIOUSifESS. 39 

but are now enchained by selfishness and confined in 
the cages of gross human bodies. At such times we 
reahze our bondage and seek freedom. Longing to 
fly into the infinite space of eternal bliss, we struggle 
hard to break our chains, to throw down the barriers 
which confine us, and to conquer all environments 
which keep us in bondage. 

Each individual soul is bom to combat nature and 
her laws. Our lives consist in the constant effort of 
the soul to overcome the limitations imposed by them. 
The forces of nature are trying to drag the soul in 
one direction, while the inner forces impel the soul 
to resist and rise superior to them. The soul does 
not want to follow, like a slave. It is struggling to 
subdue nature and to dominate over her laws. This 
struggle is the cause of the social as well as of the 
spiritual progress of humanity. A man who does not 
know how to fight against nature and how to gain 
victory over her laws, but who on the other hand fol- 
lows her blindly, is an uncivilized man, is a savage, 
and on a level with the lower animals. True civiliza- 
tion means the conquest of nature by the human soul. 
The whole history of humanity teaches this fact. If 
we study external nature we find that nature tells us: 
" Obey my laws and commands; " but we say: " No, 
why should we? We are 'thy masters, thou must 
obey." Physical nature tells us to go naked and live 
in caves or forests, like the animals, without any cover 
overhead, but we say: " No, we will have clothes and 
proper shelter," and we obtain them. Nature would 
destroy them, but we protect them by our strength 



40 VEDANTA PHILOSOPHY. 

and preserve ourselves from heat and cold and 
changes of weather by which nature would make ex- 
istence impossible for us, and in the end we succeed. 
How do we succeed? By studying nature and her 
laws, and by utilizing her forces in such a way as to 
make her obey our commands. We know how tre- 
mendously powerful are the forces of nature — elec- 
tricity, steam, etc. — but we handle all these gigantic 
forces of nature and make them serve us. This vic- 
tory of man over physical nature is due to those 
higher powers which are latent in the soul. The 
powers which overcome nature are nothing but the 
intelligence and will possessed by man. That which 
conquers is higher than that which is conquered. 
Therefore physical nature is weaker than the powers 
of intelligence and will. Similarly, if we study internal 
nature, we find there also a constant struggle between 
the higher and the lower mind, between the higher 
and the lower intelligence, between the higher and the 
lower will-power, between the spiritual, real, or divine 
man and the apparent or animal man. The lower 
mind, lower intelligence, lower will, the apparent or 
animal man is that which obeys the physical and sen- 
suous needs of the body, as a slave obeys a master. 
The higher mind, higher intelligence, higher will, the 
spiritual, the real, or the divine in man is that which 
tries to conquer and subdue the lower nature and 
dominate over it. Of course we do not find this fight 
in the lower animals, nor in those who live like them. 
When this struggle begins we are no longer purely 
animal, but we are human or moral. To be human or 



GOD-CONSCIOUSNESS. 4t 

moral, however, is not to be perfectly spiritual. We 
make a distinction between the moral and spiritual 
planes. The moral plane is the intermediate stage. 
The moral man is partly animal and partly spiritual. 
In a moral man there is a constant struggle between 
the animal and the spiritual nature. The moral man 
strives to overcome the animal in him by fighting 
against it and by constantly watching his mind to pre- 
vent the lower or animal nature from spreading its 
influence over him. A moral man must, as far as pos- 
sible, strive to avoid temptation, because he is not yet 
strong enough to overcome its influence. His effort 
must be to rise to the higher plane, which is beyond 
temptation. This struggle will only cease when the 
animal nature is completely conquered, and the moral 
man has become truly spiritual, or divine. When that 
stage shall have been reached there will be no room 
for temptations. As long as a man is struggling with 
the animal nature, he is ethical; but when he has con- 
quered it completely, he is spiritual. The moral man 
can be tempted by animal attractions, but the truly 
spiritual man is far above all temptations, he is beyond 
the reach of the lower tendencies and animal propen- 
sities that trouble the moral man. 

In a truly spiritual man all struggle of this sort has 
ceased forever. Then the true spirit, or the divine 
nature in man, reigns in its own glory and appears 
like the self-efifulgent sun above the clouds of selfish- 
ness and imperfections. The angels, or the personi- 
fied higher powers of the true Spirit, — nay, the whole 
world bows down before the victorious conqueror and 



42 VEDANTA PHILOSOPHY. 

sovereign of nature. That is the state which was 
attained by Buddha and by Christ. The Prince 
Gautama, or Sakya Muni, became the Buddha, and 
Jesus of Nazareth became the Christ when each at- 
tained this state of God-consciousness. Whosoever 
reaches that reaUzation becomes perfect and free from 
selfishness and all other imperfections. Man alone 
can reach such a state of God-consciousness. The 
lower animals and those who live like them must 
evolve to the human or moral plane first, before they 
can even attempt to attain the state of God-conscious- 
ness. As the animal nature evolves into the moral or 
human plane, the power of reaching this state is 
gradually developed, and the individual ego enters 
upon the different stages of spiritual unfoldment. 
When it reaches the ultimate point, it is conscious of 
its divine nature. That point is the climax of the 
spiritual development of the apparent ego. It is the 
state of eternal bliss and perfection. 

We cannot think of another state higher than that 
of God-consciousness, because in this state, the soul 
communes with Divinity and is united with the In- 
finite Source of love, wisdom, and intelligence. The 
individual soul, or the '' I," becomes one with the 
Father in Heaven, or the Infinite Spirit. Can you 
imagine any state higher than the state of the union of 
the individual soul and the universal Spirit? Thus we 
see that there are three principal stages through which 
the apparent ego passes before God-consciousness is 
attained. First the animal nature, which must be 
overcome by human or moral nature; secondly 



GOD-CONSCIOUSNESS. 43 

the moral nature, which in its turn must develop into 
spiritual nature. When a man is on the animal plane, 
he is extremely selfish, bound by desires, a slave of 
the passions and sense-pleasures which have no re- 
striction of any kind; he has no purity, no moral 
standard of life or of truthfulness. His highest ideal 
is the comfort of his body, and he abhors things 
spiritual, thinking it a. loss of time and energy to even 
hear about his spiritual nature, or to speak of it at 
all. But when such a man wakes up from this deep 
sleep of ignorance and self-delusion, either naturally 
or through the help of a holy Guru or spiritual 
teacher, he begins to seek the moral life. This is the 
state of awakening of the soul. It is the stage of a 
beginner in the path of God-consciousness. Then he 
tries to live a moral and virtuous life, and begins to 
examine his own nature, tries to learn his own faults 
and weaknesses, and having discovered them strives 
to correct them. This is the state of purification of 
the soul, and is the second stage of spiritual unfold- 
ment. It is called in Sanskrit Sddhaka, or the neophyte 
state. A neophyte should struggle hard to conquer 
his nature, to subdue his passions, and to overcome, 
by controlling all his habits, the tremendous force 
which the animal nature exerts. If he does not know 
how to do this, he should follow the instructions of 
one who knows, or of one who has realized the state 
of God-consciousness. He must not forget his ideal 
in his every-day life, and he must try to be always on 
his guard against temptation. Especially must he re- 
member that one cannot know the highest truth un- 



44 VEDANTA PHILOSOPHY. 

less he is truthful himself. Truth cannot be obtained 
by falsehood. Truth must be gained by truth. If we 
are not truthful we are not ready to reach that state. 
So a neophyte should try to be truthful in every word 
and action, because just so far as he fails in this will 
he fail to reach eternal Truth. 

Four things are absolutely necessary for the puri- 
fication of the heart and for conquering the animal 
nature. First, self-control, which includes the con- 
trol of senses and the control of mind by the practice 
of concentration; secondly, truthfulness; thirdly, dis- 
interested love for all; fourthly, unselfish works. In 
one of the Upanishads we read: " He shall not attain 
to spiritual perfection who has not ceased to follow 
wicked ways, who has not subdued his senses, who 
has not controlled his mind by concentration, and 
who is not truthful and kind to all." These lines con- 
tain the whole of ethics and the essence of all the 
scriptures of the world. The secret of spiritual pro- 
gress lies in the practice of these four. 

Whether we believe in God or not, whether we 
have faith in any prophet or not, if we have self-con- 
trol, concentration, truthfulness and disinterested love 
for all, then we are on the way to spiritual perfection. 
On the contrary, if one believes in God or in a creed 
&nd does not possess these four, he is no more spirit- 
ual than an ordinary man of the world. In fact, his 
belief is only a verbal one. Wherever these qualities 
are manifested we should remember that there the 
spiritual unfoldment of the soul-powers has com- 
menced. During the process of spiritual evolution the 



GOD-CONSCIOUSNESS. 4^ 

powers of self-control, concentration, etc., which are 
latent in each soul, begin to unfold from within and 
manifest themselves in the works of every-day life. 

This world is a great school, as it were, in which the 
individual egos are students, and the various stages 
of spiritual evolution in the soul-life are the different 
grades. When one course is finished, the ego, or ap- 
parent man, begins upon another. If he wants to 
study one course or lesson over and over again, there 
is nothing to prevent him from doing so. He may 
continue in this one grade for years, — nay, for many 
incarnations, if his desire does not change. But the 
moment he feels tired of repeatedly studying the same 
course, no longer finding pleasure in it, he naturally 
seeks a higher class and takes up new lessons. As 
long as one course continues to be attractive and ab- 
sorbing, it satisfies us and we do not feel the necessity 
of another; but the time is sure to come when the les- 
sons of to-day will lose their charm and will appear 
dull, insipid, and monotonous. Then we shall seek 
something higher, something better and more attrac- 
tive. This search of the ego for something higher and 
better than it has yet possessed is the cause of its spir- 
itual evolution. 

The majority of mankind are so much captivated 
by sense-objects that they cannot think of any higher 
ideal; they have weakened themselves so much that 
they do not realize the slave-like condition of their 
minds. Therefore the Gita says : " Few among thou- \ 
sands of such slaves of passions and desires seek free- 
dom, while others take delight in slavery; and few 



46 VEDANTA PHILOSOPHY. 

among thousands of such seekers after freedom per- 
severe until the emancipation of the soul and spiritual 
perfection are attained." No one can force another 
to become spiritual by making him swallow, as it were, 
the pill of spirituality. 

Spiritual unfoldment is brought about by the evo- 
lution of the inner nature of the apparent man. The 
desire to know the Spirit must arise spontaneously in 
the human mind, and when that desire shall have 
grown sufficiently strong, it will force man to dis- 
crimJnate spirit from matter, the eternal from the non- 
eternal, truth from untruth. This discrimination is 
the third stage of spiritual unfoldment. True discrim- 
ination leads to the fourth stage in the path. It is 
dispassion, or non-attachment to material and non- 
eternal things. In this stage, wealth, property, and 
sense-enjoyments will have no charm, no attraction 
for the discriminating soul. In this state the whole 
aim of life will be changed. If the entire world be 
shaken to its very foundations, it will not afifect the 
soul which has reached this stage. 

When this state has been acquired, the neophyte 
reaches the fifth stage, which is that of enlightenment. 
In the course of his onward progress he passes 
through many intermediate stages, where he experi- 
ences many wonderful powers and encounters many 
strange and sometimes alluring things. If he allow 
his mind to be attracted by any of those powers, then 
his spiritual progress will be stopped there. Psychic 
powers, such as the power of reading the thoughts of 
others, of knowing what is going on at a distance, of 



GOD-CONSCIOUSNESS. 47 

foretelling the future, of curing diseases, etc. — all the 
powers which are latent in every human being come 
to tempt the student and drag him downward. If or- 
dinary sense-pleasures are so powerfully attractive, 
how much more so will be the new and strange temp- 
tations to which the attainment of higher mental pow- 
ers exposes him! A seeker for spiritual perfection, 
however, must carefully conquer those temptations, 
or his quest will be in vain. He should remember the 
parable of the woodcutter and the Sage and march 
onward, without paying attention to anything outside 
of the ideal he has set before himself, which is the 
realization of God-consciousness. 

A poor woodcutter lived in a village in India near 
the outskirts of a dense forest. He earned his living 
and supported his family by selling fire-wood which 
he collected in the forest. He spent his days in cut- 
ting up branches of trees, which, after drying, he made 
into a bundle. At the close of the day he carried the 
bundle to the market-place and sold it for a few cents. 
His whole family depended upon those few cents for 
their daily living. In this manner the poor man strug- 
gled for several years. One day, as he was coming 
out of the forest bending under the heavy weight of 
the big bundle of fire-wood on his back, he met a 
kind-hearted Sage. The Sage, seeing his miserable 
condition, spoke to him, saying: " Good man, why 
do you not go onward into the deep recesses of the 
forest?" The poor woodcutter replied: "Why, Sir, 
I get enough wood here; what would be the use of 
my going farther into the deep forest?" Again the 



48 VEDANTA PHILOSOPHY. 

Sage urged him to go farther into the woods, and thus 
advising him went away. After his departure, how- 
ever, the words of the Sage returned to the mind of 
the woodcutter and began to produce a deep impres- 
sion. The next day, when he came to the spot where 
he had seen the Sage, he remembered the words of 
the holy man and decided to make an experiment, so 
he went into the denser part of the forest. As he 
pushed through the tangled undergrowth, wondermg 
what the Sage had meant by his advice, he suddenly 
smelled the sweet odor of sandalwood, and looking 
about found himself close to a sandal-tree. He was 
extremely delighted. He mentally thanked the Sage, 
and, collecting as much sandalwood as he could 
carry, brought it to the market-place and sold the 
bundle for a very high price. That evening he had 
more money than he could have earned in five years 
if he had followed his regular work. Next day he 
went again to the forest, but he remembered the 
Sage's advice and said to himself: " The Sage did not 
tell me anything about sandalwood; he only told me 
to move onward." Thus thinking, "the woodcutter 
left the place where he had found the sandal-tree 
and went deeper into the forest. At last he came upon 
a copper mine. He collected as much copper as he 
could carry, and selling it in the market-place he got 
plenty of money. Next day, still following the Sage's 
advice, he did not stop at the copper mine but moved 
onward. He came upon a silver mine, and carried 
away with him quantities of silver, which made him 
quite rich. But he did not forget the Sage's advice 



GOD-CONSCIOUSNESS. 49 

to move onward. He pushed on and on into the for- 
est, not allowing himself to be diverted by the many 
remarkable discoveries he made on his way. At last, 
after passing a gold mine, he came to a mine of dia- 
monds and other precious stones. Feeling sure that 
this must be what the Sage intended him to reach, he 
did not seek farther, but took the jewels and ultimately 
became the wealthiest man in that part of the coun- 
try. Similar is the case of the man who aspires to 
spiritual perfection. The advice of all the great Sages 
to seekers after spiritual wealth is to '' move onward," 
and not to stop after making a little progress, or after 
possessing some of the psychic powers. Being de- 
luded by the desires for name and fame and by ambi- 
tion of various kinds, many people mistake psychic 
powers for spiritual gifts and think that if they can 
cure diseases by mental means, they have attained to 
spiritual perfection. The number of these self-deluded 
supernatural power-mongers is daily increasing in 
America under various names. If you seek spiritual 
perfection and God-consciousness, beware of the 
temptations that these psychic powers offer to the un- 
wary. None of these powers is the sign of true spirit- 
uality. Therefore the seeker after spiritual perfection 
should carefully overcome these obstacles in the path 
of his spiritual advancement. 

Those who are attached to these powers will not 
attain to God-consciousness while that attachment 
lasts. They keep man on the psychic plane and de- 
lude him in such a way that he often ceases his effort 
to rise higher. These powers are described by Hindu 



50 VEDANTA PHILOSOPHY. 

sages (Yogis) as far greater and more subtle tempta- 
tions than the grosser ones of a lower plane. We 
ought to avoid carefully the longing for such powers. 
Let them come if they will; but do not seek them. 
They are merely the sign-posts that mark our pro- 
gress; they are not the highest objects to be attained 
nor are they of any real value in themselves. It is 
better to consider them simply as obstacles to be sur- 
mounted. They cannot produce any injurious effect 
on one who does not forget his real goal, but stead- 
fastly pushes on, determined to reach the highest ideal 
of life — God-consciousness, constantly keeping this 
aim before his mind's eye. 

After conquering the temptation of psychic powers, 
the true seeker after God-consciousness reaches the 
fifth stage of spiritual unfoldment. His spiritual eye 
gradually opens, he begins to see glimpses of the 
higher truth, he knows that the soul is separate from 
the body; he understands what the subtle body is; 
whether the soul reincarnates or not and whether the 
soul existed before his birth; — all such questions are 
solved in this state of enlightenment. He finds expla- 
nations of everything, both physical and mental, and 
discovers the true relation of the soul to God. 

Having attained this enlightenment, the soul rises 
to a still higher plane of spiritual unfoldment. It is 
the sixth stage, that of perfect spiritual illumination. 
Then the goal has been reached, and even in this life, 
that soul has found eternal bliss in God-consciousness. 
This is called by various names by different philoso- 
phers and sages of different countries. In Sanskrit 



GOD-CONSCIOUSNESS. 5I 

It is called Samadhi. The Buddhists call it Nirvana, 
which means the cessation of misery, sorrow, selfish- 
ness and all other imperfections, and the attainment 
of blessedness. It is not a state of nothingness, as 
some people believe, but the attainment of perfection. 
The Christian Mystics of the Middle Ages described 
it as ecstasy, and modern Christians call it the state of 
communion with God. The name may vary, but the 
state itself appears to be the same in every case. This 
state is the ideal of all religions of the world. Among 
Christians, Mahomedans, Buddhists, Hindus and 
others, the seekers after Truth struggle hard to attain 
this state of superconscious realization. Jesus became 
the Christ after attaining it, and Sakya Muni became 
the Buddha or the Enlightened. Rama Krishna, the 
great Sage of the nineteenth century in India, reached 
that stage and is now worshipped by thousands of 
people as an Incarnation of God upon earth. All the 
great sages and prophets described this as the highest 
attainment. In this stage, the river of the higher Self, 
the Real man, flows with tremendous force into the 
ocean of Divinity and nothing can resist the course of 
that current. The soul in each individual is constantly 
trying to manifest its Divinity or true nature; and its 
attempts are perfectly fulfilled when the sixth stage is 
reached. In this state of realization all problems of 
life and death are solved, all the doubts of the 
mind cease forever, and all questions are answered. 
In this state one sees the underlying unity of the 
whole panorama of phenomena, and the individual 
soul then transcends all phenomena and their laws. 



5^ VEDANTA PHILOSOPHY. 

When such a man wakes up from the supercon- 
scious state and comes down to the plane of ordi- 
nary consciousness, his whole nature is transformed, 
he manifests Divinity in every action of his life and 
sees the same Divinity in sun, moon, stars, in his own 
Self and everywhere in the universe. He puts on 
his eyes new glasses, colored, as it were, with the 
tinge of the divine Spirit and wherever he casts his 
eyes, he sees through them manifestation of divinity, 
and that everything exists in God. Many philoso- 
phers have attained to this state. Plotinus, the Neo- 
Platonist who lived two centuries after Christ, reached 
it four times in his life. Some people are afraid of 
losing their individuality. But we can never lose our 
individuality. Plotinus, after reaching this state, said 
to his friend Flaccus that in it we realize the Infinite — 
" You ask how you can know the Infinite? I answer 
not by reason. It is the office of reason to distinguish 
and define. The Infinite cannot be ranked among its 
objects. You can only apprehend the Infinite by a 
faculty superior to reason, by entering into a state in 
which you are your finite self no longer, in which 
the divine essence is communicated to you. This is 
ecstasy. It is the liberation of your mind from its 
finite anxieties. Like only apprehends the like. 
When you thus cease to be finite, you become one 
with the Infinite. In the reduction of your soul to 
its simplest self, its divine essence, you reaHze this 
union, nay this identity." Porphyrins attained to this 
superconscious state when he was sixty-six years old. 
Dionysius, who lived in the fifth century, called it the 



GOD-CONSCIOUSNESS. 53 

State of the mystic union, or when the soul is united 
with God. The great Christian mystic Meister Eck- 
hart, who Hved in the fourteenth century, described the 
nature of this state of God-consciousness thus: 
" There must be perfect stillness in the soul before 
God can whisper His word into it, before the light 
of God can shine in the Soul and transform the Soul 
into God. When passions are stilled and all worldly 
desires silenced, then the word of God can be heard 
in the Soul." The idea is that calmness of mind and 
concentrated attention are needed if we wish to hear 
the divine word. How can we expect to hear that 
divine voice within us if our minds are disturbed with 
sorrows, desires, and anxieties? We will have to 
make our minds free from these for the time being. 
In that peaceful state comes revelation, and revela- 
tion or inspiration means the disclosure of the higher 
Spirit within us. When that revelation comes, then 
we understand the nature of that " Unknown and Un- 
knowable," as it is called by modern science. Then It 
becomes known and knowable, not by the finite mind, 
but by the all-knowing Spirit. 

He who has not reached this state of God-conscious- 
ness will stumble hundreds of times before he can 
grasp its meaning. He will perhaps say: "How is 
it possible for the created to be one with the Cre- 
ator? " Or, perhaps he will say: " Can a man who is 
a sinner by birth ever reach such a state?" Some 
will say this is the state of nothingness. Horatio 
Dresser, Mr. Savage, and some others regard it as a 
state of unconsciousness. A learned professor once 



54 VEDANTA PHILOSOPHY. 

told me that there is no such thing as the supercon- 
scious state. These people cannot be convinced by 
arguments or words, they need to experience this in 
their own souls. All great Sefers of Truth have said 
that there is such a state. It is not trance, nor cata- 
lepsy, nor is it a state of hypnotic sleep. In that super- 
conscious state the whole nature is transformed. The 
man who has reached it no longer lives as he did be- 
fore; he is illuminated, and his face is radiant with 
divine glory. His sight changes into spiritual sight. 
He may have been a dualist before and may have be- 
lieved that God was outside of the universe, but now 
he sees God everywhere. Becoming dead to selfish- 
ness, he sees the all-pervading divine will as working 
in the universe, and he thinks no more of his will as 
separate from the universal will. He has reached 
spiritual perfection who having surrendered his own 
will to the universal divine will keeps quiet like a 
leaf that has fallen from a tree. When the wind blows, 
the dead leaf is moved and carried from place to place; 
in like manner, when the truly spiritual man has be- 
come dead to selfishness and remains tranquil, the 
wind of the eternal will of God moves his mind and 
body. The mind and body of such a man become the 
instrument and playground of the Almighty will. 
This is the seventh and final stage of spiritual unfold- 
ment. It is called in Sanskrit Jivan Mukti, salvation 
in this life. The soul has now become a Christ, or a 
Buddha. Both these words signify the highest spir- 
itual state of God-consciousness and not any particu- 
lar person. . , . 



GOD-CONSCIOUSNESS. 55 

If it be claimed that such a state is impossible to 
attain, how then can the claim be made that Jesus the 
Christ was conscious of his divine nature? He is the 
foundation upon which the fabric of Christianity has 
been built, and he showed evidences of supercon- 
sciousness or God-consciousness. Some people may 
despise this state and call such teaching mysticism. 
If this be a mystical state, then Jesus was a great mys- 
tic, because he was conscious of his divine nature, 
and his religion is founded upon mysticism. If Jesus 
attained to that God-consciousness, then every indi- 
vidual may do so; he was not an exception, as some 
people may think. In fact, each one of us is bound 
to attain to that state. No one will be lost. There 
are various paths through which that God-conscious- 
ness can be gained. If we make God-consciousness 
the highest ideal of life, keep our minds open to truth, 
and do not blindly follow any teachings but use our 
common sense and reason, then sincerity and earnest- 
ness guided by proper exercise of reason and earnest 
search after truth under the directions of a truly spir- 
itual teacher, will assuredly lead one through all 
these stages to the state of God-consciousness and 
spiritual perfection. If you wish to attain to that state 
in this life and to live like a master on the spiritual 
plane, and not as a slave of sense-pleasures, you will 
have first to control the animal nature by the higher 
nature. The higher nature is already within you. 
Realize it. Control your lower mind and passions for 
the time being, then you will be able to live on the 
spiritual plane as the master over sense-pleasures. If 

LifC. 



5^ VEDANTA PHILOSOPHY. 

yoit cannot live such a life, seek the company of those 
who are their own masters. Through association 
their life will reflect upon yours. You may say: 
" Where shall we find such characters? " If it be diffi- 
cult for you to find such a character, then take an ideal 
life and follow that ideal and try to become like it. 
If you have faith in Jesus the Christ, keep that ideal 
before your mind. Take His life as a model and try 
to live up to it. Do not listen to anybod/s explana- 
tion of your ideal. Throw aside all theology, dogma, 
superstition and the scheme of salvation formulated 
by the priests, and try to live as Jesus lived. All ex- 
planations will come to you from within. If you can- 
not do that and still believe in God and in prayer, 
then worship God and pray to Him for this God-con- 
sciousness. Your prayer will be fulfilled. If you do 
not believe in God or in prayer, and do not care to 
follow the life of Jesus, your path will be entirely differ- 
ent from that of the believer. Still, do not despair, there 
are other ways. You do not have to believe in God 
or worship Christ. Seek the Truth and try to realize 
the unchangeable reality of the universe; to discrimi- 
nate the changeable from the unchangeable, the spir- 
itual from the material. The power of discrimination 
exists already in your soul. You need not go begging 
for right knowledge. Open your mental eye and see 
what is spirit, what is matter; whether spirit is the 
result of matter, and whether this life is the result of 
chance or of law. If you cannot discriminate in this 
way, strive to know who and what you are and what 
is your relation to the universe. If you think that this 



GOD-CONSCIOUSNESS. 57 

is not easy, then do unselfish works, work for work's 
sake without thinking of the results. Whenever you 
work in your every-day life, think that you are pay- 
ing off your debts, as it were, and not working to gain 
anything. Do your duty in the best possible way, and 
do not worry about the results. If this seems to be 
difficult, then try to love all living creatures as you 
love yourself. If you think that you cannot do this 
easily and successfully, then try to concentrate your 
mind on your higher nature, or take one sacred word, 
or one holy idea and meditate on that. There are 
hundreds of ways by which one can attain to God- 
consciousness and spiritual perfection. There are as 
many ways to Truth as there are individuals who seek 
it. This is the peculiarity of the teachings of Vedanta 
philosophy — it does not offer a single method only 
and then condemn all others. It says that each in- 
dividual must suit himself or herself according to the 
powers, tendencies, and capacities of the individual 
ego. That path which is good for one individual may 
not be so for another. We have to start from where 
we are now standing. Each one of us is at a certain 
stage or rung of the ladder of evolution. Such being 
the fact, each must take the path suited to his nature 
and follow it sincerely, and must not let his mind be 
muddled by the opinions of other people. We must 
use our own reasoning powers and common sense, 
which is the best sense we have. Then the light of 
spiritual illumination will gradually dawn upon the 
horizon of our souls and we shall be able to see things 
as they are. On the contrary, if we are guided by the 



58 VEDANTA PHILOSOPHY. 

opinions of others, we shall not gain much. There 
are thousands of preachers, philosophers, ministers, 
and priests in the world; each one of them is trying 
to impress upon the minds of his hearers that his path 
is the best and the only right one. Now, who shall 
decide which is right? We cannot decide upon the 
highest until we attain to the highest, because our de- 
cision always depends upon certain standards, which 
again are subject to change; that which seems to be 
the highest to-day may not seem so to-morrow. Only 
that man who has attained to the highest standard of 
life can say which is the highest and best in reality. 
All the greatest sages and wise men of the world, 
however, are unanimous in declaring that the state 
of God-consciousness is the highest of all, although 
they lived at different times and in different countries. 
Whenever they describe it they are unanimous in 
their description. The statements of Christ, Buddha 
and Krishna, of Plotinus, Eckhart, Rama Krishna, 
etc., are without material differences. They all teach 
that there is one universal goal for all the seekers 
after truth, and that that goal is the attainment of God- 
consciousness. It is the highest ideal of all religions. 
It makes no difference whether we belong to this sect 
or that denomination. Spirituality can never be con- 
fined within any sect, creed or denomination, nor can 
it be limited by any organized religion. It depends 
entirely upon the evolution of the inner nature of the 
apparent man. ^The religion which does not teach it, 
which does not say that God-consciousness is for every 
individual, irrespective of caste, creed, or nationality, 



GOD-CONSCIOUSNESS. 59 

is not worthy to be called a religion. Such religions 
are artificial and consequently useless. ' Vedanta is not 
a dry system of speculative philosophy, as some think, 
but its ideal is to make each individual soul reach the 
state of spiritual perfection; to bring each soul face to 
face with eternal Truth. According to Vedanta, each 
soul will attain to the state of God-consciousness, 
sooner or later, by the process of spiritual evolution. 
" Even if the greatest sinner, who has sinned for a hun- 
dred incarnations, can realize his divine nature for even 
one half second, he shall be free from all sins, he shall 
be pure, perfect, and godly in this Hfe. Whosoever 
reaches the state of Samadhi, or God-consciousness, 
becomes one with God." 



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